Leather-ironing machine



D. E. HARDING LEATHER IRONING ACHINE June 16; 1925.

Filed April 11. 19%;:

Patented June' 16, 1925.

1 UNITED? STATES? PA EN m- DANA E; nnnnrnmor nnrrvnns, MASSACHUSETTS, a-ssrsnon o HARDING EN- emnnnme COMPANY, or nnsT BosTon, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION or MassacnusnTTs:

LEATHER-IRONING Application filed. April 131, 1922. Serial No. 551,731.

provide a machine by whichslrins, sides or leather and other leather pieces may be" ironed; 'in other words may be. subjected.

mechanically to the combined influence of pressure and heat. 1 Inthe preparation of leather for'use in the 'arts, .oneofthe opera? tions. performed uponit is that of pressing with. a hot iron, ,for the purpose: of. spreadout the leather in smooth condition. and. incidentally atthesame time of setting thepi-gmentor dye with which the. leather has previously beencolored andyor of giving a polish to the grain-side. of. the leather.

Heretofore the ironingoperation above referred to has been customarily performed:

by hand, and though automatic ironing ma-' chines have been designed for" this purpose, such. machineshave been either wholly inoperative; or otherwise. commercially uni satisfactory. {The hand." ironing operation isnecessari-ly slow because only a small part ofeither dimension of the leather pieceoperated upon. can be overlaidat, any one time why the hot iron,.wherefore 1nany strokes of; the iron. in different paths have to be made before the wholepiece hasbeen acted upon. This operation is also a laborious one, and on. account of its fatiguing nature andvthe slowness-of its performance the output: of the individual workman. is slow and the cost of the finished product relatively high- By the present invention I have. produced a machine} which is able itoproduee automatically results in ironing leather which, with respect tosatisfactory performance, are equal. or superior'to the results of thehand method,and' With respect to timev consumed are! incomparably faster. The inventionconsists: essentially in a machine having the" characteristlcs whlch are here nafter describedin the following specification and are illustrated in thedrawings referred v to therein, and in. all equivalent combinations and structures within the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of an ironing machine made in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2' is an end view of the machine. Figure 3 is a plan View of the machine. Figure- 4: is a longitudinal section of the heated roll. which forms the ironing. tool, illustrating as an operative means for heat-- ing such tool an electrical heating system whichI consider superior to other of the heating means which might be operatively used for the same purpose.

Figure 5 is an end view of the ironingro-ll showing electrical contacts;

Figures 6 and 7 are elevationsshowing details ofthe electrical connections.

Like reference characters designate the same partsin all the figures.

The. machine comprises a base frame or supporting structure of any suitable character,-th'e nature of whichiis sufficiently indicated from the drawing without special descriptiomthe' important fact with regard to this frame being that it supports bearings 1, 2 and 3 in which guidero-lls and 5 for a conveyerbelt' 6 and a supporting roll 7 are mounted and ma'yturn. are arranged at the opposite sides of the frame and trunnions at the ends of the rolls are confined in the several bearings. The

bearings or boxes 2 for the roll 5 are mounted slidingly in guides 8, and may be adjusted by means of screws 9' so as to apply whatever Y tension, to the conveyor may be necessary. inorder to give traction thereto.-

7 The ironing tool isa rolllO having trunnions which turn in. bearing. boxes 11. arranged over the bearings 3 and located as to position by means of rigid upright guides 12 supported on the base frame These guides permit movement of the ironing roll towardand away from the supporting. roll- 7 A springlg. isconfined between each bearing 11 and across-barlf on the guides 12 and these springsforce the ironingroll toward'the conveyor. Screws 15" are threaded through cross-bars- 16'of the respective. guide structures and maybe turned' to apply force tothesebearings contrary to the pressure of the springs 13 and so regulate the pressure Duplicate bearingswhich is applied to the work by the ironing roll to any amount up to the full pressure of the springs as the maximum.

A presser roll 17 is held by means of its trunnions 18 in bearin s 19 which occupy guides 20 rising from the frame in front of the guides 12. Screws 21 at the opposite ends of the roll 17 are threaded through cross-bars 22 on the guides 20 and by pressing against the bearings 19 serve to press the roll 17 against the work.

Any suitable means may be provided for driving the ironing roll and the conveyer. I have shown in Figure 2 one form of means for this purpose consisting of a belt pulley 23 on the shaft of the ironing roll 10, a pair of intermeshing gears 2 l and 25 on the shafts of the rolls l0 and 7, and a belt pulley 26 on the shaft of the latter roll adapted to drive, by means of a belt, a similar pulley on the shaft of either the roll 4: or the roll 5. If it be assumed that a belt from a countershaft is passed around the pulley 23, then it will be seen that the ironing roll is rotated at any given rate and that the roll 7 is driven at a speed of which the ratio to the speed of the ironing roll is equal to the ratio of the gears 2t and 25.

While the roll 7 has some driving effect on the conveyer, its surface contact with the latter is not suflicient to be depended on as the only drive, wherefore one of the end rolls is driven at the same speed in order to provide sufficient traction for the conveyer. Obviously, however, other specific schemes for imparting rotation to the ironing roll and linear travel to the conveyer may be .used, all within the scope of the invention and of my claims for protection.

For the purpose of this description, the part of the machine at the right of the ironing roll (with respect to Figure 1) is considered the front of the machine. An operator standing at the front lays the pieces of leather to be ironed upon the conveyer which carries them first under the roll 17 and then under the ironing roll. The preliminary roll is provided to flatten the pieces just before they reach the ironing roll, and for the further purpose of acting as a frictional drag to hold back the pieces in those conditions where the ironing roll is driven at a faster peripheral speed than the conveyer. After passing the ironing roll, the skins or other leather pieces are either taken by an attendant from the conveyer or are deposited by the latter in a suitably placed receptacle or upon some other conveyer which carries them away.

For some classes of work the ironing roll is driven at the same peripheral speed as the conveyer'and in such cases it merely presses the leather with application of heat. For other classes of work it is driven at a. higher speed, and in those cases it performs the further function of polishing the leather. Any desired speed ratio of roll and belt may be obtained by applying change gears 2st and 25 of the same pitch and desired relative numbers of teeth.

WVhile the leather is undergoing pressure it is supported by the roll 7, which opposes in a positive manner the pressure of the ironing roll but without opposing any resistance to the travel of the conveyer. Displacement of the leather pieces on the conveyer when the ironing roll travels at a higher speed is prevented in part by the frictional contact of the conveyer and the work and in part by the pressure roll 17. Suflicient friction for the purpose is readily obtained by making the conveyer of, or facing it with, suitable material, such as felt or a woolen fabric, or a rubber composition having a highly frictional surface, etc.

lVhile various means may be employed for heating the ironing roll, such as steam, gas, etc., I prefer to employ electrical means for this purpose and have illustrated such means to complete the disclosure of the invention. Referring to Figure 3 the ironing roll is shown in section as composed of a tubular shell 10 with heads 27 and 28 secured tightly in the ends of said shell. These heads mount the trunnions of the roll.

Two heating units 29 and 30, respectively,

are confined in insulating tubes 31 and 32 of porcelain or other insulating material and said insulating tubes are enclosed in metal jackets 33 and 34 which are mounted at their ends in the heads 27 and 28, and are retained therein by threaded plugs 35 and 36. The leads from the opposite ends of the units pass through insulating bushings 37 in said plugs and these leads at one end of the roll are connected with one another by a bridge connector 38 and at the opposite ends are connected with slip contact rings 39 and 40 which are insulated from one another and from the roll, although supported mechanically by the latter. Conductor bars 41 and 42 are mounted on the roll support or guide 12 adjacent to that end of the roll which carries the contact rings and make contact with the respective rings, being themselves in connection with the supply wires of the electric circuit.

The interior space of the roll surrounding the heating units is substantially filled with a heat conducting liquid, a suflicient portion of the interior of the roll being occupied by a cushion of air or other gas to avoid danger of bursting the roll or opening any of the oints in it by difference between the internal and external pressure due to heating and cooling.

Heating units of whatever heating capacity desired may be provided and the heat delivered by them is transmitted and distributed by conduction and convection of the liquid equally to the surface of the roll.

Evidently the ironing roll is adapted to bear on the skin or other leather piece across its entire Width, Wherefore only one pass of the piece under the roll is needed for the ironing operation and, as the machine may be run at a high speed evidently a large output of ironed leather is possible.

Moveover, as the machine is simple in construction, it can be produced at low cost in proportion to its output. All these factors cooperate to reduce the cost of the leather ironing operation While saving physical labor on the part of the operator and improving the quality of the Work performed.

Various modifications of form, arrangement and construction of the machine and of the component parts thereof may be made Without departing from the protection of the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1'. A leather ironing machine comprising an endless conveyer a roll around Which the conveyer passes and With which it makes contact, a hollow ironing roll arranged to bear on the Work pieces carried by the conveyer directly opposite to the first named roll, and means for heating the ironing roll comprising a heating unit and a body of liquid enveloping said unit, in the hollow interior of said roll.

2. A leather ironing machine comprising a traveling conveyer, a hollow ironing roll mounted to apply heat and pressure to Work pieces carried by said conveyor, an electrical heating unit mounted in the hollow interior of said roll and external means for conveying current to and from said unit, the interior of the roll containing a liquid for transmitting heat from said unit to the periphery of the roll.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

DANA E. HARDING; 

